{"id":1180,"date":"2010-08-28T12:36:38","date_gmt":"2010-08-28T12:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2010\/08\/leighton-ford-on-a-christian-approach-to-muslims.html"},"modified":"2010-08-28T12:36:38","modified_gmt":"2010-08-28T12:36:38","slug":"leighton-ford-on-a-christian-approach-to-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/08\/leighton-ford-on-a-christian-approach-to-muslims.html","title":{"rendered":"Leighton Ford on a Christian Approach to Muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"Bble<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Leighton Ford is an old Charlotte friend of mine, and was formerly Billy Graham’s right hand man in the Billy Graham Association.  I find what he says in this post both sensible, sane, and well worth reflection.  BW3<\/p>\n

Jesus and the Mosque<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

On a shelf at
\nhome I have a copy of Pilgrims of Christ on the<\/i> Muslim Road<\/i>, the
\nstory of the Syrian-born writer Mazhar Mallouhi. As a young man who grew up in
\na Muslim family he had a profound spiritual hunger, read widely, learned of
\nJesus in the Bible, and became a follower of Christ while remaining loyal to
\nhis Muslim culture.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

His novels are
\nread by millions in the Middle East. Through them he has sought to bridge
\nmisunderstandings between Muslims and Christians.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In the book is a
\nphoto of him in the famous Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo, sitting with a group of
\nMuslims as they read the Gospels together. It is his custom to say, “I am a
\nfollower of Christ. Here is what Jesus said. Tell me honestly, do you think I
\nam living as Jesus said I should?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I thought of
\nMallouhi’s question during the heated dispute over the location of a Muslim
\nmosque and community center near Ground Zero in New York. Among the voices
\nbeing raised – some harsh with anger, some deep with indignation about
\n“rights”- I wonder if the missing voice is that of Jesus?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

If I were a
\nMuslim I might want to claim rights, but also want my leaders to consider
\nwhether another location would work and help to heal some deep hurts. But I am
\nnot a Muslim. Those issues are for the Muslim community to decide.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

What I need to
\nask is: what does Jesus say to us who say we follow him? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Suppose we, like
\nMallouhi, sat down with some Muslims in the new community center, and read with
\nthem some of the words of Jesus, words like “Do good to those who hate you.”
\nThat could apply to radical terrorists who want to blow us up. So how can it
\nnot apply to Muslim neighbors who are living among us?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Many years ago my
\nlate friend J. Christy Wilson was pastor of the first ever Christian church in
\nKabul, Afghanistan. Through the good offices of President Eisenhower permission
\nwas granted to build the church, attended by Christian expatriates.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The time came
\nwhen the Afghan authorities revoked permission and announced they would knock
\nthe church down. When the bulldozers arrived what did the Christ followers
\nthere do? They served tea to the workers who were destroying their church
\nbuilding!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

They were living
\nout a central tenet of our Christian faith – that we are “saved by grace”
\n-God’s grace freely given in Jesus Christ – and they showed grace.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

How can we do
\nthat?  I hope the churches and the Christ followers in New York can figure it
\nout. Perhaps delivering a cool drink to the workers who will build the center?
\nAfter all Paul went so far as to write (and this was about enemies, not
\nneighbors) “If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.” <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Does this mean we
\nnaively accept real evil? Not at all. I understand the rage that 9\/11 stirred.
\nForce is often needed to protect the innocent. But ultimately I have to follow
\nJesus and his follower Paul in the baffling reality of Paul’s admonition to
\n“Overcome evil with good.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

What does the
\nlove of Christ compel me to do? Perhaps whether in New York or Charlotte to extend
\na little more grace – actually a whole lot more. Wouldn’t that be the best
\nwitness we could make?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Leighton Ford<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leighton Ford is an old Charlotte friend of mine, and was formerly Billy Graham’s right hand man in the Billy Graham Association.  I find what he says in this post both sensible, sane, and well worth reflection.  BW3 Jesus and the Mosque On a shelf at home I have a copy of Pilgrims of Christ…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nLeighton Ford on a Christian Approach to Muslims - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/08\/leighton-ford-on-a-christian-approach-to-muslims.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leighton Ford on a Christian Approach to Muslims - 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He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}